February 28, 2015: Loch Lomond Marina Update

Over the past several months, work has continued on the Village at Loch Lomond Marina. This update contains information provided by the developer, BCDC and the S.R. Public Works and Community Development departments.

Name: You might have noticed the signs on the property advertising “The Strand”. The name of this development is still called The Village at Loch Lomond Marina. However, the residential portion (that is, excluding the Marina, Yacht Club, launch facilities, public spaces, Andy’s Market and other commercial buildings) is now being called The Strand. There is a pre-sales website for The Strand where potential residential buyers can get more information as it becomes available.

Residential Lot Elevations: The most important recent change deals with residential lot elevations. FEMA has issued new specifications regarding the elevation of residential lots above base flood elevation (BFE) levels. This information is detailed in a previous post on February 12, 2015. This change, effective September 2015, will require additional soil be placed on several lots to raise their elevation to the new FEMA specifications, some by as much as 16″. That, in turn, will raise the height of the structures on those lots by an equivalent amount. The Coalition has discussed with the S.R. Community Development department the lack of any recourse for this rather unique situation in the issued permits. As a result, the City has no authority to re-address the building heights to compensate for the rise in land elevations.

Loch Lomond Drive: The first layer of paving has been placed on Loch Lomond Dr. from Pt. San Pedro Road, past the turnaround at the Yacht Club and to Docks E & F. There are still a number of construction activities to complete, including placement of accent paving and landscape, before the second layer of paving is done. The developer will be starting the reconstruction of the parking lot from Dock H to Docks I & J in the next few weeks. When all paving is done and all construction operations have moved off of the roadway, Loch Lomond Drive is expected to reopen to the general public. While the parking lot areas are being reconstructed, a temporary parking area will be created near Dock H for the Marina tenants.

Residential Construction: The developer expects to begin construction of initial residential structures in the next few weeks. These initial structures will consist of the 12 residences along the east side of Loch Lomond Drive from Pt. San Pedro Road to the turnaround at the Yacht Club. They consist of 1 single-family home, 10 townhouses and 1 cottage (see Site Design) and will be intended initially as model homes for sales purposes.

Boardwalk: While the boardwalk as been reopened after repair due to a construction failure, the developer is preparing to pour the new boardwalk in the next few weeks. The new boardwalk will be 14′ wide (the current boardwalk is 6′) with a marina green between the boardwalk and the roadway. As a result, the boardwalk is only planned to be open for access by Marina tenants while construction operations are underway in the area. The developer is requesting that the general public not use the boardwalk until this construction is completed.

Breakwater: The reconstruction of the breakwater is nearly complete. Since there will be active construction work in the area, the developer doesn’t plan to open the breakwater to the public until after they complete the wetlands work, the repaving of the parking areas and make the pedestrian connection from the parking lot to the breakwater. It is not clear at this time when that will occur but it appears not to be earlier than late May 2015.

The breakwater path was originally specified to be decomposed (crushed) granite in the permits from BCDC approved in 2007. However, the developer requested a change in the permit substituting asphalt for decomposed granite in a letter to BCDC in October 2014. Their stated reason for this change was that decomposed grant tends to deteriorate in the best of situations and even more so in the wet and stormy conditions along the breakwater. This would make such a path unsafe and possibly impassable for people with disabilities and, thus, not ADA-compliant. This change was approved administratively by BCDC (meaning it was not taken to the BCDC Board or reviewed by any City agency) and the path has now been completed with asphalt. The Coalition is pursuing how this occurred without City or public input and discussion.

Wetlands: The developer is planning to do the wetlands restoration construction project in April or May depending on rain and how long it takes for the wetland area to dry out.

West Jetty Remediation: The remediation work is in process and is currently expected to be completed by the end of the summer. There is no schedule for reopening the fueling facility at this time. This part of the project was originally planned to be completed and the fueling facility reopened in December 2014. It is unclear what has been the cause of this large delay nor its impact on the operations and economics of the marina and launch facilities, especially as the boating season begins. The Coalition is pursuing these questions.

Andy’s Market: The original plans call for the construction of the new Andy’s Market location to begin by July 2015 and be completed by June 2016. The market would then move to the new location overnight. The Coalition (as well as Andy) is trying to determine if this schedule is still correct or if there has been any change to it.